Patricia Bissonnet (Bissonnet)

A lovely pic, Jan.  Your future spouse looks so solemn--probably contemplating whether prom was the right place to propose!

Roger Felton

LOL, good observation Patricia.  You know, it's not every day that a girl gets to go to prom with Buddy Holly. What a great looking couple!  Did anybody besides me go to Gaido's Resturant after prom?  May have the spelling wrong.

Robert (Robby) Wallis

Roger, we currently live about a mile and a half from the old Gaido's South Main location.....I believe the cross street was Murworth...I think it's a gas station now....No, we didn't go to Gaido's after the prom, we went to Kaphan's just down the street at Kirby and South Main....it's a CVS or Walgreens now....Jacquie, yes, loved the drapes and furnishings.....our 1960s Oak Forest 1418 Gardenia living room decor was gold and green....damn! it was beautiful!!!

Hilda Carol Smith (Godell)

Jimmie Walkers (now Landry's) was the choice for my group.  I still have a menu from that - I believe a whole meal of fried shrimp was $1.95. 

Stephen Ray Puckett

Both places had very good food.  The menus are from the early 1970's 

I don't remember where we went on prom night.  I seem to recall that it was a fancy place on the water, probably Jimmie Walker's.

Hilda Carol Smith (Godell)

I also remember that Jimmie Walker's had a casual and a more formal dining area.  We were thrilled to be dining in the formal part of the restaurant - carpet, tablecloths, etc.  Kaphan's was the go-to place for my family for special occasions.  Amazing that eating out was such a novelty for us during those years.

I've enjoyed all the nostalgia of the last few weeks on this site.  Must be that 50th anniversary approaching!

Carolyn Johnson (Blake)

Hi Steve,

I started thinking about all the great places we used to eat when we were in high school, as a family and on dates. A favorite date dinner was Sonny Looks. I went there on my Prom night.

Carolyn Johnson (Blake)

Hands down my favorite was Felix in the Montrose area. Felix Tijerina was a rich contributor to the culture and history of Houston, and was force for social good, and gave many jobs to young Mexican Americans trying to get their start. After he passed it was found out he particpated in the Mexian revolution. What a life he led! Mrs.Tijerina could always be seen at the restaurant taking care of guests.My mother was a social activist and so was involved with the Tijerinas in their work for civil rights.  Their chili con queso has never been matched.

Carolyn Johnson (Blake)

And then there was Monterrey House, in the little shopping center on the corner of 43rd and Oak Forest, accross from Oak Forest Elem. My mother used to go get us food there on Friday nights and bring it home. We ate on TV trays and watched TV.

Stephen Ray Puckett

Good ol' Sonny Look's. It was a good place for a date...when I could afford it.  The theme got dated, though, after a number of years.  That was the heyday of that part of town.  The flavored butter was a big treat.

http://houstonhistorymagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Sonny-Look.pdf

        A fond look back at his colorful career.

Roger Felton

Thanks to ya'll for sharing those memories.  Carolyn, I had no idea that he fought in the Mexican revolution!  I would have loved to have had the chance to learn more from him directly but he may have been reluctant to talk about it,

Gosh, you guys are giving me an inferiority complex.  While you guys were dining in the high class joints, I was hanging out at the Texan Drive-In on Hempstead.  They really did have a great shrimp basket with home made fries.  It's gone now but the memories linger on.

Stephen Ray Puckett

I've been to The Texan a few times.  It was at Long Point, as I recall.

Stephen Ray Puckett

Speaking of proms, where was ours?   My mind is blank on that - not surprisingly, I guess, because it WAS a half century ago!  I do remember the party afterwards at, I think, the Pine Forest Country Club.

Robert (Robby) Wallis

Steve, that's a great question....I remember our overnight at the PFCC...but cannot remember a thing about the prom....where the heck was it?  ......you'd think you and I could remember even after 50 yrs......someone puleeze jog our memories...

Rodger Liljestrand

I think the prom was held at Surfside. There was a big stink abouit not going to the Pine Forest Country Club, which was too expensive. Parents were worried about drunk driving (a reasonable worry). I think there was a bus chartered for those who wanted to ride to the prom.

I didn't go...

Rodger Liljestrand

Guy Hunter

I thought it was at the Sylvan Beach pavilion in LaPorte. I recall the coaches telling us to be sure to obey the speed limit because the LaPorte police were notorius for issuing tickets.

Jan Barnes (Nimtz)

It was at Sylvan Beach pavilion.  And we rode the bus.  Safety all around!

Woodrow Wilson Traylor

Now that we're going down memory lane, do you remember who provided the music for our prom?  No cheating, memories only.

Robert (Robby) Wallis

Jan...thanks...I think I remember a bus ride and Sylvan...

Woody, the band? have no idea but here's a guess...Roy Head and the Traits...??

Joanna Hinton (Garrett)

I remember Jimmy Walker's quite well.  It was a special place to go to eat after everyone had come in from sail boat racing.  When I started dating one boy from the Galveston Bay Cruising Association, several  girl friends who were into sailing spent the night at one of the parents' house in Dickinson.  The next morning we were off to meet the boys to take out a 40' sailboat for a practice run on Galveston Bay for a race the following day.  On the way back to moor at Seabrook Shipyard, we tied up alongside the pier of JW's and go for dinner.  Once Mike Hunter who was in my homeroom class realized that my family had a sailboat, he would visit my father quite often.  I always had a crush on Mike even though he never knew it.

Roger Felton

Gosh, Robbie, I remember Roy Head.  Great voice.  He used to come by the radio station for an interview whenever he had a new record released.  You've never partied till ya party with Roy.  You may be correct about the prom band but I'm foggy on that.  If I had to guess, I'd say the band was Benny Goodman with LeAnn Rimes on the drums.  So now you know not to depend on me.  Heck, I don't even remember my date except that she grunted a lot and walked like John Wayne.

Stephen Ray Puckett

OK  That brings back memories.  It was messed up in 2008 with Hurricane Ike, then rebuilt and reopened in 2013.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le1mrxKPk_Y

    Video of the pavilion

Stephen Ray Puckett

Roy Head - 1965

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FYAB74OIeI

Roger Felton

Thanks, Stephen.  That's the place.  I remember seeing the Pavillion for the first time and thinking the Martians have landed.  It was beautiful and hope the restoration preserved that.  Looking at those photos, I'm puzzled.  Where was the parking?  Did we just park on the grass?

Woodrow Wilson Traylor

Roy Head?  That would have been pretty cool, but, no.  It was The Buddy Brock Orchestra.  One of the great "big band" orchestras our area has ever seen and a perfect match for Sylvan Beach.  Pretty classy for 1965.